Gums, Resins, 



292 



[October, 1911. 



the trunk and then leave it, the milk 

 oozes from the wounds, trickles down 

 the bark and coagulates and becomes 

 dry in a few days. My guide said it took 

 three days to dry, but I should have 

 supposed a shorter time might accom- 

 plish the change, the little rivulets are 

 so very thin. That which was in the 

 old cuts— cuts probably a year or more 

 old — had turned black, but that in those 

 recently made was nearly milk-white. 

 The Indian boys, who are perhaps 

 accustomed to play with the balls, as 

 I noticed from several which they 

 brought me, never make them large, 

 they strip the dry-strings very dexter- 

 ously from the bavk, taking good care 

 to extract the larger portion to which I 

 have alluded as partly concealed in the 

 incisions, and stretching it with a good 

 deal of tension, wind it up. These balls 

 have wonderful elasticity and bound 

 with very little impulsion several feet of 

 the ground. The rubber, too, seems 

 exceedingly tenacious and strong. . . . 

 This method of gathering is very econ- 

 omical of time, for it saves the tedious 

 operation of catching the milk in a 

 vessel as it issues from the wound, 

 which is the most bothersome of all the 

 operations. The principal objection to 

 it is, that the rubber becomes soiled by 

 the dirt adhering to the bark, a little of 

 which it retains, and no doubt this 

 would deteriorate its market value ; but 

 this depreciation might be reduced to a 

 minimum by carefully brushing the 

 surface down prior to commencing 

 collecting operations. Rubber, which 

 has foreign matter incorporated with it, 

 is classed under the term negrohead in 

 the market, though its value depends on 

 the measure of its freedom from dirt or 

 other substance having regard, of course, 

 to the quality of the rubber itself when 



clean I regard the discovery 



of this tree of great interest and prob- 

 able importance, attaining, as it does, 

 such a vast size and producing a material 

 of apparently excellent quality. The 

 Indians know it under two names, the 

 Carabasi calling it Touckpong, and the 

 Arawacks Cumakaballi. Noble in all 

 its proportions, spreading and lifting its 

 massive head above its neighbour's, it is 

 one of the largest trees of the forest, 

 and has a wide and general distribution 

 over the deep belt of low country in the 

 colony." 



In 1905 considerable plantations of the 

 Sapium Jenmani had been established 

 in the north-west district of British 

 Guiana, and there is no reason why they 

 should not be successful. As a rule, the 

 planting of this species has been 

 encouraged when the trees are found 

 wild, and where they appear to thrive 



the best. The planters are also thus able 

 to secure a good seed supply close at 

 hand. Numbers of plantations are to be 

 found in the country of Berbice, on the 

 Demerara river, on the lower reaches of 

 the Essequibo river. The Government 

 is also carrying on experiments in tap- 

 ping on its forest reserve at the mouth 

 of Bonasika Creek that will soon tell the 

 whole story of the yield by a variety of 

 methods. In addition to this at all of 

 its experiment stations, in the north- 

 west district at Issororo, at Onderneem- 

 ing, Cnristianberg and Pomeroon, the 

 Government has been planting Sapium, 

 and carefully tabulating every tact 

 regarding its growth, etc. 



Very little interest seems to be taken 

 in Castilloa in the colony. A few plant- 

 ations have scattering trees, and they 

 are to be found in the Botanic Gardens, 

 of course. But, as for any extensive 

 planting or any likelihood of it, that is 

 a vain hope. The planters are not in 

 favcur of it, and . the Government 

 experts do not advise it. 



Speaking again of that indefatigable 

 traveller, the late G. S. Jenman, he 

 believed that in the Forsteronia gracilis, 

 which he found in abundance, he had 

 discovered another valuable source of 

 rubber.. He was camping far upon the 

 Demerara river at Malili, some 200 miles 

 from Georgetown when, in one of his 

 forest excursions, he cut deep into a 

 festoon of bush rope, and was surprised 

 at the quantity of latex that gushed 

 out. He cut down forest giants to get 

 at the whole vine, spent days in collect- 

 ing latex and in trying to coagulate it, 

 and finally sent rubber, flowers, leaves, 

 etc., to Kew for identification and valu- 

 ing. His report, which covers pages, is 

 full of enthusiasm and interest. The 

 Indians called the vine Macwarrieballi, 

 and the botanists at Kew said it was 

 Forsteronia gracilis. The experts at 

 Silver-town, to whom the rubber was 

 submitted, said it was too sticky and 

 soft to be valuable. That, however, 

 was in 1888, when they would have 

 turned down guayule, for example, and 

 many other lesser rubbers, as indeed, 

 would any rubber manufacturer of that 

 period. Peihaps, therefore, it may yet 

 appear on the market. 



Speaking of the lesser rubbers, and 

 before beginning on the balata of which 

 the colony ships large quantities, I want 

 to refer again to what is commonly 

 known as brittle balata from the 

 Humiria floribunda. If it is as abund- 

 ant as some think, and can be cheaply 

 gathered, it should have a place. A 

 British Guianian sent me a sample 

 shortly al ter my first visit to the colony. 



